References 271RNA imaging [119] can be further advanced by incorporation of docking sites
that allow RNA to be probed with oligonucleotides using methods like DNA‐
PAINT [120], leading to super‐resolution imaging in situ.
Thus, the discovery of a variety of natural RNA structures and functions, an
ever‐increasing understanding of how such features can be designed, and an
ability to rapidly implement and test ideas are indicators of a significant role for
RNA scaffolds in future synthetic biology applications.
Definitions
Synthetic biology is a discipline that seeks to control biology using the princi-
ples of engineering
Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at the atomic, molecular, and
supramolecular scale
RNA scaffolds are macromolecular structures or assemblies of RNA with well-
defined secondary structure motifs for spatially organizing other biomole-
cules. These are typically expressed in living cells for metabolic engineering
purposes
Isothermal assembly is a self-assembly of structures at a constant temperature
Metabolic engineering is the production of small molecules or short peptides
through the engineering of metabolic pathways
Aptamers are nucleic acid oligonucleotides that bind a specific small molecule
or other ligand
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